


Honor, Guide, and Guard

by StorySongs



Category: Temeraire - Naomi Novik, 刀剣乱舞 | Touken Ranbu
Genre: Dragon AU, M/M, Origin Stories, Timeline? What Timeline?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-23
Updated: 2016-11-23
Packaged: 2018-09-01 15:12:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8629099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StorySongs/pseuds/StorySongs
Summary: In a world where dragons are the swords of the samurai, the second in command of the Shinsengumi hatches a new member. Dragon! AU loosely based in the Temeraire universe.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For Temeraire people:  
> Touken Ranbu is a browser game where historical Japanese swords are brought to life as handsome men. I'm borrowing the characters and changing them into dragons. 
> 
> For Touken Ranbu people:  
> Temeraire is a series of historical fantasy novels set in a universe where sentient dragons are used as instruments of war.

All is quiet in the headquarters of the Shinsengumi. Even the most dedicated drinkers and womanizers have gone to their futons at the signs of the rising sun. Horikawa crouches beside his master’s futon, alert and on guard as is proper for a wakizashi-ryuu. Hijikata may not be the first master Horikawa has served, but so far he’s been his favorite; no assassins will sneak past him in the night to claim his master’s life. He kneads his sheathed claws at the very thought.

Around him he can hear other dragons snoring in their master’s rooms. Kiyomitsu and Yasusada are likely curled with their heads on Okita’s torso, and Kotetsu is rumbling the very walls in the room where his master uses his tail as a pillow. There are more wakizashi-ryuu and tantou-ryuu from lesser clans scattered about on guard, as well.

As the sun filters through the paper walls, Hijikata begins to stir. Horikawa rumbles softly and nudges him with his nose.

“The night was quiet, Master. It is time to rise.” His master mumbles blearily and Horikawa chuckles as a sword-calloused hand bats at his nose.

“Five more minutes, Kunihiro-san?”

“No, now.” His master sighs and sits up with a stretch.

“Fine, fine. I’m up.” Before Horikawa can move away and give him privacy to dress, his master gently seizes one of his delicate horns. “Kunihiro-san, may I speak to you for a moment?” Horikawa nods his consent, intrigued, and settles back down into draconic _seiza_ with his legs folded underneath him.

“As I’m sure you’ve heard, many of the Shinsengumi think that I should have another dragon in my service to enhance my authority.”

“Yes, I’ve heard.” He bows his head. “Have you thought about who you wish to hire?”

“I don’t wish to hire anyone.” Horikawa’s head shoots back up. “My status is high enough that I was able to request a hatchling to match you.” Horikawa blinks several times, touched beyond measure.

“I… thank you, for thinking so much of me.” Hijikata’s eyes soften.

“Horikawa, you have been more loyal than I ever could have dreamed. I don’t want to see you overshadowed or bullied by a larger dragon.” Touched, Horikawa dares to lay his muzzle in Hijikata’s hands and feel the warm glow of pleasure as his jaw is scratched. He very firmly steadies his voice before he speaks in order to retain some semblance of dignity.

“Which school did you request an egg from?” He asks.  

“The Kanesada school.” Horikawa makes an impressed sound; they’re a well-known house over eleven generations strong. To be granted such a hatchling is a wonderful mark of his master’s status. “They have several uchi-ryuu eggs close to hatching. When they agreed to grant me one, they said the hatchling would likely have colors close to yours.” Horikawa glances at his dark blue paw dubiously, then at his brown wing where the Shinsengumi mountain-stripes have been dyed in white. He is rather drab, he knows, but if Hijikata is content, then so be it. If anyone can make a dragon with his colors beautiful, it will be the Kanesada school.

“It should be arriving within the next few weeks. Would you help me guard it and be there at the hatching?” Horikawa blinks, his heart full to bursting with joy.

“I would be most honored, Master.”  

* * *

The egg is a thing of beauty, as expected from the Kanesada school. The tachi-ryuu who helps deliver it bows his head and delicately nudges it into Hijikata’s hands, and his master sighs reverently as he strokes the hard shell. It’s like fine white porcelain, ever so slightly swirled with the lightest blues and golds.

When the delivery team leaves after the pleasantries and payments, Hijikata lays the egg in its cushion on the floor so Horikawa can curl around it. The shell is very nicely warm when he tests it with a tongue-tip, and under the thrall of instincts he can barely control he tucks it lovingly under one wing.

“Hello, little one.” He murmurs. Hijikata just laughs.

“They said you would go broody, Horikawa, but I didn’t expect it to happen so fast.” He kneels down beside his dragon and Horikawa lifts his wing to let him close to the egg. His human looks surprised. Horikwa chuckles.

“Don’t you think it should know your voice?” His master blushes before shuffling closer to the egg, beginning to tell the hatchling inside about the Shinsengumi, their mission, their duty. Horikawa lets him talk and just listens with his tail curled gently around the shell.

After Hijikata has gone to bed, with Horikawa standing guard and the egg tucked warmly against his side, the wakizashi-ryuu speaks to the egg himself. About serving as a dragon of the Shinsengumi, about Hijikata as a master, about the life the hatchling will be born into. When he finally stops talking he hears gentle taps against the shell and sighs, resting his muzzle against it. His heart swells with warmth for the tiny life yet to truly begin.

“I won’t let anything hurt you.” He murmurs to the tapping hatchling, which goes silent after his declaration. Maybe it’s gone to sleep.

He settles back to his guard duty, ears tuned to the sounds of the night and the tiny heartbeat within the swirled shell.

* * *

“Ooh, is that it?”

Horikawa wakes from his midmorning nap with a start, hissing at the intruder before he properly recognizes the black and blue heads peeking around the screen. Then he hisses at Kiyomitsu and Yasusada just because they annoyed him.

“Yes, this is Hijikata’s new egg. Don’t you two have work to do?” Yasusada shrugs.

“We finished our drills and Okita-kun is experimenting with human to human sword techniques. And Kiyomitsu is still favoring his left wing so we have the morning off.”

The bright red spines on Kiyomitsu’s head raise in outrage.

“I am _not_ favoring my wing, you idiot! I’m just being careful, unlike _some_ dragons who don’t know how to rest an injury!”

“Well I-“

“ _Shut up!_ ”

Both uchi-ryuu snap their jaws shut and look at the normally quiet wakizashi-ryuu with surprise. Brown eyes are glaring at them and a blue body is curled protectively around the egg.

“You will _not_ teach the new hatchling to bicker like children. Behave, or leave.” After a few moments, Kiyomitsu snorts and mumbles an aside to Yasusada.

“Let’s go, Yamato. He’s gone broody on us.” He directs his attention back to Horikawa. “Good luck with the egg, let us know when it hatches.”

They duck back outside, and Horikawa settles back down to his interrupted nap with a grumble. He sighs as he closes his eyes.

“They’re good teammates, really.” He murmurs for the benefit of the hatchling. “They work together beautifully and they’re some of our best fighters. They just can’t help picking on each other.” He nudges the shell fondly. “I hope you’re more even tempered than them.”

He falls back asleep rumbling a lullaby under his breath.

* * *

The egg hatches during a summer storm; auspicious and well-timed, for the hatchling will neither dry out or become chilled during the process.

Hijikata and Horikawa both settle close to the egg, murmuring encouragement as it works its way out of the thick shell. Horikawa can’t help his croon when a deep blue nose breaks through and it pauses to breathe heavily. His heart melts when the hatchling peeps back.

Hijikata laughs softly at his dragon’s expression.

“Besotted already, are you?” he murmurs, and leans toward the hatching egg. “Come on out, little one, Horikawa and I both are very excited to meet you.”

The exact instant the hatchling cracks the egg entirely open, lightning crashes outside with enough force to make both Horikawa and Hijikata jump. The hatchling squeaks and clumsily leaps towards Horikawa, huddling between his forepaws. Both he and his master stare at it in utter shock.

“Inazuma-iki.” Hijikata breathes, taking in the telltale golden spines down the hatchling’s back. They’re still birth-soft and nearly hidden in the sodden brown mane that runs down the long neck to the tip of the tufted tail, but they’re unmistakably the signature spines of one of the most dangerous uchi-ryuu breeds. Its dark blue hide has elegant red streaks running from its eyes to the tip of its tail, and its dark brown wings are perfectly formed and edged in red-and-gold swirls. Even as they watch blue sparks begin to flicker between the spines in reaction to the storm. Horikawa rumbles softly; it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen..

“The Kanesada school must have been truly honored by your patronage, Master, to grant you such an egg.” He murmurs before bending his head to nudge the hatchling. At this age the sparks are no more painful than static.

“You’re Horikawa!” The hatchling blurts as his spines lay flat and the sparks peter out. The voice is young and piping but unmistakably male. The wakizashi-ryuu rumbles in amusement.

“Yes, I am. Welcome.” He licks salty egg-wet off the hatchling’s chin. The hatchling turns his head towards Hijikata as the man moves forward with a towel.

“And you’re Hijikata!” The man chuckles fondly as he begins to towel the hatchling dry.

“Yes, I am. Have you decided on a name for yourself?” The hatchling shakes like a dog to fluff up his mane and spreads his wings for his guardians to dry.

“No, I haven’t thought of one. Will you help me? I’m hungry.” He jumps from subject to subject like the child he is.

“Of course we’ll help you pick a name as you age. Were you told what you must do before we may feed you?” Hijikata asks. The hatchling wriggles out from under their hands and jaws.

“Yes!” He says, spines crackling anxiously, and dances from foot to foot. Hijikata sits up into proper _seiza_ and holds out his hands palms up. The hatchling rears back and balances both forepaws in the human’s hands, soft claws extended to gently scrape his wrists.

“Will you swear to guard me, to fight by my side, to be an obedient and loyal servant?” The human asks gravely. Horikawa knows he’s been practicing the traditional words for days, and holds back his chuckle. His poor human is so nervous about the first dragon ever hatched just for him.

The hatchling bobs his head.

“Will you swear to guide me, to care for me, to never betray my trust?” He asks seriously in return. Hijikata nods.

“I swear.” His hands tighten on the hatchling’s paws, and in response the little dragon digs his claws into his wrists just enough to draw blood.

“Then I swear as well.” He chirps, and just like that they are bound. Hijikata laughs like a little boy and pulls the dragon into his arms, then winds his arm around Horikawa’s neck. They sit like that for a few moments before the hatchling petulantly asks,

“ _Now_ may I eat?”

And they break up in laughter to get the hatchling his first meal.

 

**Author's Note:**

> First note: I apologize for the mangled Japanese terms. I'm basically classifying dragon breeds by size and running with the decision that Japanese dragon breeds are classified using the same terms as their swords are, because it makes it easier to translate Touken Ranbu characters to dragons. (I have a whole Word document written out if anyone is interested in my ramblings about how the Japanese treat their dragons in this AU.) 
> 
> "Inazuma-iki": according to Google Translate, should roughly be "Lightning Breath". The decision for Kane-san's breed to be a lightning-breather was made when I was first planning this fic, when I mistakenly had it in my head that "Izumi" meant "Lightning". Oops. 
> 
> I do not speak Japanese, if you do and know a better way to phrase these please please please let me know! I'd be happy to make it more correct. 
> 
> I might continue this farther if there's sufficient interest. :)


End file.
